Levy explains how Deacon Jones came up with “sack”

When Hall of Fame defensive lineman Deacon Jones passed, the tributes and memories included most prominently that he used the head slap and that he coined the term “sack.”

Leo Roth of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle explains that Jones locked on to the term after legendary head coach George Allen used it as a pun in a motivational speech.

Here’s the story, as told by former NFL coach Marv Levy, as assistant under Allen with the Redskins: “George was talking the night before in the team meeting about playing the Dallas Cowboys and their quarterback, Craig Morton. The term [sack] had never been used. It was always, ‘Tackle the QB for a loss.’ But the night before the game, George goes, ‘Before we play those Dallas Cowboys, we’re going to take that Morton salt and pour him into a sack.’ That was the inspiration for it.’’

Still, it was Jones who ran with it as a word to generally describe tackling the quarterback for a loss. So while Allen gets the assist, Jones saw that the word had far broader appeal than linking a quarterback named Morton to the Morton salt brand and putting the salt in a proverbial sack.

I aleays thought it was like a siege of a city, like when rome was ‘sacked’ by the barbarians. demolished, ruined, etc.

filmex2000 says:Jun 17, 2013 12:17 AM

Sorry, I don’t buy it.

Following Deacon’s passing, the NFL Network showed an old NFL Films segment from the early 1980s where Deacon described coming up with the term in relation to having a warrior’s mindset in going after the QB, and likened it to sacking and pillaging an enemy’s village.

Allen’s language came perilously close to the terminologies that got Sean Payton into so much trouble. But Allen’s reference was humorous, not with intent to do harm. What he meant (for those who don’t “get it”), was this. Salt is sold in markets in 5-pound sacks. Morton Salt was a major brand and coincidentally the name of the Dallas QB. What Allen told his players was, “before” the game begins let’s grind up Morton and pour him into a sack. It’s whimsical, kind of like saying, “I’d like to beat Peyton Manning to a pulp”, but less violent and full of image association. Allen had no intents in that direction of course. It was just a, “if I got my hands on him, I’d……” moment.

Oh, I always thought it was a British thing, or Deacon punched people in the nut sack

usdiveteam says:Jun 17, 2013 6:17 AM

The best thing about that story is they had 0 in that game! Lol

jfk69 says:Jun 17, 2013 6:45 AM

George also added…” and if Morton salt gets up..Take off his peter.
“No saltpeter today.
Actually this was the first non published bounty case. Allen offered a salt and pepper shaker set to the defensive player who put the most salt on Morton’s tail.

elliottcovert says:Jun 17, 2013 7:26 AM

I always thought it came from the terminology of warfare. Back in medieval times, invading armies would “sack” enemy-controlled towns — meaning that they would pillage and plunder the towns, which were often surrounded by big stone walls for that very reason (a lot of villages in Western Europe still are!).